This literature class is designed for the student who:

1. Has an interest in weird, spooky, and macabre stories.
2. Can read but doesn't necessarily do it. (Of course, avid readers are welcome, too.)
3. Wouldn't mind reading short stories by the authors of such classic novels as Frankenstein and The Time Machine (as long as they don't have to do it alone).

Each day we will begin with biographical information and historical background. We will read and discuss the stories, decoding the sometimes challenging language together. Homework will include writing a journal response to the work read in class.

Monday
Introductions, expectations, historical context, and important literary concepts. Students will discover what makes Gothic literature Gothic.
The final project will be introduced and options discussed. Projects may be designed by each student or chosen from a list provided and might include research, essay writing, creative writing, painting, drawing, sculpture, music, performance, etc. These projects will be shared with the class on Friday.
 We will begin reading Mary Shelley's "The Mortal Immortal." Students will finish reading the story on their own (if we don't finish in class) and complete a journal entry responding to the story. 

Tuesday
After discussing "The Mortal Immortal,"  we will begin Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death" and discuss the allegorical nature of the story--does the moral of the story take away from the entertainment value of the story? We will also begin "The Diary of a Madman" by Guy de Maupassant, to be completed outside of class if we don't finish together.  What does this story have in common with other stories we have read (both in class and outside it.)

Wednesday
Discussion and sharing of selected journal observations. Read "The Boarded Window" by Ambrose Bierce. How does Bierce's style differ from Shelley's or Poe's? What makes it seem so "modern"?

Thursday
Discussion and sharing of selected journal observations. Read "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. How does the narrator qualify as "unreliable"? Why was this story so revolutionary at the time of publication? 

Friday
Discussion and sharing of selected journal observations. Students will present their projects to the class before reading the final story, "The Red Room" by H.G. Wells. 

Are there any themes that are common to the sampling of stories we read? How are they similar? Can you describe how the stories changed between 1833 and 1896?